By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

MECHANIC FALLS – Justin “Duffy” Doane honed his firefighter’s ax battling the raging forest fires of 1947 then went on to lead the town’s Fire Department as its chief.

He died Tuesday at the age of 80.

“He was an excellent friend,” said Don Patterson, the department’s safety officer. He and Doane worked shoulder to shoulder for more than 50 years.

Patterson found Doane at his home suffering from an aneurysm on Monday. He was taken to Central Maine Medical Center shortly thereafter.

“Duffy was one of our most dedicated members,” Deputy Chief John Holly said Wednesday.

Doane was also a dedicated family man, Holly said. “If he was here (at the fire station), he’d be talking about his family. If he was home with his family, he’d be talking about firefighting,” Holly said.

Patterson said Doane’s love of family – and of firefighting – was central to his life. Sometimes the two would end up being one.

More than once, Patterson recalled, Doane would have his kids bundle up to race with him to the firehouse when an alarm sounded and his wife was working.

A third love was fishing. It didn’t matter if it was chasing brookies from a nearby stream, looking for salmon or togue in a lake or deep-sea angling.

“I went with him a few times,” said Patterson, “but I wasn’t really a fisherman. Duffy loved it.”

Doane also was an accomplished cribbage player. Patterson said that while he quickly tired of the game – “I wasn’t very good” – Doane could play for hours and often skunked his rivals. Doane also had a sharp sense of humor. Once, Holly said, the two had responded to a house fire in Minot, lugging a 2-inch hose to the back of the building.

Doane left Holly alone for a minute while checking on firefighters on the other side. While he was gone, the line was charged with water, and Holly was left to wrestle with it.

“When Duffy came around the corner and saw me he laughed and laughed,” Holly remembered.

Doane remained active as a firefighter up until a couple of years ago, and then helped with traffic control at fires and at the station during mutual aid situations until about a year ago.

A firefighter’s funeral is set for 11 a.m. Saturday from the Weston-Chandler Funeral Home. Holly said about 10 fire engines are expected as departments that work with Mechanic Falls through mutual aid join in Doane’s sendoff. His body will be carried on Engine 3, the oldest in the town’s fleet and one with a crew that he would have supervised while chief.

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